Too Fast To Die
by shadowblade-tara
Summary: Dangerous Alliance Pt 2: Connor has a place with Dom's gang, but the Institute isn't keen on letting her and Karr go. A double murder draws the attention of FLAG, and it isn't long before all hell breaks loose.
1. Chapter 1

Knight Rider © Glenn Larson. Connor & the Institute © me. Fast and Furious © obviously not mine.

AN: The sequel to Hit Man! I hope I get better reviews for this one. Reviews aren't necessary, but they make me update faster.

**chapter one**

They made for an odd sight. A silver and black Nissan Skyline R35 GTR was parked beside a solid black Ferrari Enzo. An older man leaned against the Skyline, his arms crossed over his chest. He was tall, muscular, bald, and very clearly respectful of the woman in front of him. She was at least ten years his junior, maybe more – it was hard to tell. Long black hair hung in a braid down her back, bangs framing in her clear amber eyes. He was dressed in a white sleeveless shirt and jeans. She wore a black long-sleeved shirt and black cargo pants. Neither were armed. She was deadly still.

Dom trusted Connor. In the past five years that he had known her, she had proven herself to be a valuable ally. He knew when she was in trouble, even when she wouldn't admit it. This time, however, he was the one in trouble. He thought she was too.

"They knew about you." Dom said quietly. "They knew everything – about you, your parents, the car. How could they know that if the Institute hadn't sent them?"

"I don't know." Connor murmured, calmly taking everything in. "They could have figured it out other ways. It's hard to run a background check on me, but not impossible."

Dom chuckled at that. "Not even Brian can do it, and he had all the backing of the FBI with him." he reminded her. "That's why it took you five months to work your way in."

"Don't remind me." Connor said with a grin. "It wasn't my finest hour."

"I thought you did pretty good." he said.

"So there were two of them." Connor mused. "Did they try to hurt you?"

"Tried." Dom said. "I wouldn't tell them anything about you. They tried to rough me up, and I had to fight back. They were pretty well armed."

"You killed them."

"Yes."

Connor nodded. She respected Dom. He was one of the few contacts she had that the Institute knew nothing about. He was the only man she had met who hadn't raised a hand against her in all the five years they had known each other. If anything, he had fought for her when one of his gang mates tried to rough her up. So she respected him, and she did what she could to keep him safe.

The Ferrari's engine rumbled. "It's not a big loss, but it will bring the cops running." Karr cautioned.

Connor grinned as she ran her fingers across the hood. "It will – but we'll be waiting for them." she assured him. "All evidence goes through computers now, right?"

"Right."

"And once it does, it will go away. How long can they keep an investigation running when all their evidence keeps disappearing?"

It had taken Dom a while to get used to Karr. He still wasn't comfortable around the Ferrari – heck, no one was. Connor was the only one to work under Karr's hood, and while others would help her out, no one would go under there themselves. Dom couldn't really say he blamed them. Karr had a foul temper and a mean sense of humor. Not unlike Connor herself.

"How long can Karr keep that up?" he asked.

"As long as it takes." Karr replied smugly. "I am an AI, after all. Computers are child's play for me."

Connor rolled her eyes. "He's so humble, isn't he?" she quipped. Dom chuckled. "All right. Karr and I are heading out for the night – there's some things we need to do. We'll be back by morning. Give Letty and Mia love for us?" She blew Dom a mocking kiss as she slid into the driver's seat of the Ferrari. Dom waved as they took off, out of sight down the dark road almost before he could blink.

They had helped Dom out of a tight corner. When Connor had come to him six months ago asking sanctuary, he knew he had to repay his debt. Besides, Mia loved Connor like a little sister. Dom had to help Connor out, if only for Mia. Letty and Brian were still suspicious of the young woman and her strange car, but Connor didn't seem to care.

If only Dom could shake the feeling that something was about to go very wrong, very quickly.

/----/

"I don't think Dom would approve of what we are about to do." Karr said quietly. Connor shook her head.

"He has no room to talk." she pointed out. "He's the one who used to hijack semis for a living. Besides, I'm not even stealing anything that I plan on selling."

"That makes it more dangerous for everyone." Karr said grimly.

Connor glared at the dash. "Tell me something – how are your scanners holding up?" When Karr didn't respond, Connor nodded. "I thought so. You've been taking care of me all this time. It's my turn to take care of you. If that means hijacking a semi to do it, so be it."

"Knight and Kitt will be there."

"No they won't." she smiled tightly. "There's a case further south in Miami. The semi is on its way out to meet them there. We're going to head them off at the pass."

Karr seemed to sigh. "I hope you know what you're doing." he murmured. "I don't want you getting hurt."

She reached out and brushed her fingers across the dash. "It's all right, Karr." she whispered softly. "Everything is going to be just fine."

Karr shivered at her touch. He swore she did that on purpose.


	2. Chapter 2

**chapter two**

Dom found Letty and Mia in the garage the next morning. There was the conspicuous absence of a certain black Ferrari Enzo that was just slightly unnerving, but he chose not to comment on it. Connor may have been welcome in the gang, but she wasn't contained by the same rules the others were. Connor didn't race, or at least not very often. Unfair advantage, as she put it. Brian had his head underneath the hood of his new baby. Dom slapped his hand on the top of the car, watching with some amusement as the blond jumped.

"I hate it when you do that." Brian muttered sourly. "It hurts to hit your head on the valve intake."

"You need to focus." Dom shot back. "Mia said hey to me."

"Yeah – you were on the other side of the freakin' garage." Brian slid out from underneath the car and stood up, rubbing at his forehead. Mia slid up next to him and kissed his forehead.

"All better?" she teased.

"Sad when your girlfriend babys you." Letty piped up. She leaned against Dom's shoulder and wound her arm around his. Mia smirked at her.

"Oh, and you don't baby Dom?"

Before Letty could shoot back, the growl of engines got their attention. All four of them looked up to see a black Pontiac Trans-Am pull into the garage. The engine cut off, and a tall lanky man stepped out. He took off his shades and flashed Dom a grin. "Hey. I hear this is the place to go for racing parts." he said.

Letty gave the Trans-Am a once-over. "You ain't planning on racing that, are you?"

The man smirked. "Don't judge it till you've raced against it."

Dom gently detangled himself from Letty and looked the man over. "So you want to race." he murmured. The man seemed very confident in his '80s model Trans-Am, and Dom recognized that confidence. It was the same he felt from Connor every time someone challenged her in her Ferrari. "I hope you got something good under that hood, otherwise no parts in the world are going to help you."

The stranger laughed. "Oh, trust me – I've got plenty." He looked around as if trying to find something in particular. Behind the garage, Brian could hear the soft whine of Connor's Ferrari. Part of him hoped she didn't walk in. Dom may like the girl, but Brian had spent enough time with the cops to know she was more than just bad news. This strange guy with his domestic was also raising alarms.

"Hey – you wouldn't happen to know when the next street race is, would you?"

Dom and Brian exchanged looks. Brian shrugged. "Gotta be in the right place at the right time, I guess." he said calmly. "You'll know it when you see it."

The stranger nodded. "Thanks." He slid back into the driver's seat of the Trans-Am. Dom spoke up.

"Didn't you find what you wanted?"

"Nope." He smiled. "Special parts. Hard to find – you understand."

"Yeah." They watched as the man backed out and drove away. A half-minute later, Connor walked in. Brian turned to Dom.

"He's a cop, man." he warned. "He was in here scoping the place out."

"He's more than that." Connor said, her head tilted to the side. Amber eyes narrowed as she spoke. "That's Michael Knight – he works for the Foundation of Law and Government. We're talking feds here, not locals."

Brian glared at her. "Yeah? And how would you know?" he snapped.

Connor smiled. "I had to work with him once." she pointed out. "I think I'd recognize someone like him." She bit her lip, considering. "Is he racing the Trans-Am?"

"Sounds like it." Mia commented. She abandoned Brian's side and walked over to Connor, putting her arm around the girl's shoulders. Brian didn't miss the pleased smile that crossed Connor's face. "Not like he's going to win anything in that. Did you see the model?"

Connor smiled as she leaned against her friend. "Oh, trust me – he'll win a lot in that. Unless it's me he's racing."

"Let me guess – you share an affinity for tricked-out cars?" Letty asked with some amusement.

Connor grinned. "We share an affinity for more than that."

Mia decided to change the topic of conversation. "Me and Letty are going out to the movies tonight. You wanna come with us?" she asked Connor.

"Sure." Connor said with a shrug. "Just let me know when you're getting ready to leave so I can get changed. Got some repair work to do to my car." She flashed Dom a grin and headed out the back way again. Dom was the only one who knew the full truth of what that car was.

In the back, as Dom and the others got ready for the next day's race, Connor was up underneath Karr's hood. The asphalt was hard and covered with glass shards from various accidents, but she didn't mind. She finally had the tools she needed to get the job done, and Karr's sensors were in dire need of maintenance. Karr browsed through the radio stations before settling on something they both enjoyed and putting it through his speakers. Metallica blared over his speaker system, and Connor couldn't help the grin on her face.

"There are so many comments I could make about that." she teased.

"Perhaps." Karr allowed, and only Connor could hear the affection in his voice. "But I would have many more comments. Most of them involving chocolate."

"Hey!" She rapped lightly on the fender with a wrench. "I resemble that remark. Besides, I don't get chocolate very often. Less often than you get repaired, which is saying something." She grunted as she adjusted one of the screws. "How's that?"

Karr ran a self-diagnostic. "Much better. You are very good at this."

"Thank you." Connor shifted further under the car, adjusting something close to Karr's CPU. Normally, Karr shut off all sensors when mechanics got too close to his central processing unit, but he trusted Connor. Besides, it was his dirty little secret – he liked having Connor touch him. It was a sign of how great his trust in her was, that he _wanted_ her to touch him. Her arm brushed against a sensor, and he couldn't help but shiver. "Knight is trying to get into the races."

"The double homicide probably brought him running." Karr said dryly. "It'll take a lot more than fancy computer work to get FLAG off of that case."

"I know." Connor admitted. "I was wondering if I could talk him into dropping the case."

"Not without admitting Dom is involved, and that wouldn't go over very well." Karr pointed out. "As helpful as the man has been, he does have a record."

Connor snorted. "And I don't?" She grunted as she attempted to fit a new computer chip into a USB port next to Karr's CPU.

"Connor, wait – "

The woman yelped as the port zapped her. She ran through her list of curses as Karr quickly shut off the safety mechanism. "I'm sorry!"

Connor stuck her fingers in her mouth as she slid out from under the car. The tips were numb, but that would go away in a few minutes. She shook her head. "Don't – I forgot." Usually she got the biggest kick out of watching the mechanics get zapped like that. This was the first time she had gotten popped.

Karr's voice was subdued. "I'm sorry."

She ran her fingers across the prow, just underneath the scanner. "Didn't I say don't?" she murmured. "I'm fine. See? No harm done. Now, let's see if the chip worked for all the trouble it was."

They fell silent as Karr activated the new circuitry. He opened the driver's door, and she slid inside. After a moment, Karr spoke again.

"It's functional."


	3. Chapter 3

**chapter three**

Michael Knight found the one he was looking for at a trucker's garage. She was actually _inside_ the engine compartment of a massive semi truck, the cab blue with red flames painted down the sides. Michael thought he recognized the paint job, but he couldn't place it at the moment. He was too mad to really bother to think it over. He watched her for a moment as she worked, waiting for her to get done. He didn't want to blow her cover just yet.

Connor jumped down from the engine compartment, jeans and arms covered in grease and soot. "Fire it up, Optimus." she called out to the driver. The big man nodded and cranked the engine. The thing sputtered a few times, then came to life. He grinned.

"You are a miracle worker, Connor." he praised her. She simply brushed it off with a laugh. "Here – tip included."

"Thanks, Prime." she said with a grin. The man saluted her as he drove off. Connor didn't bother to count the bills. She simply pocketed the roll and started to move on. Then she caught sight of Michael. "Ah. The storm has finally arrived." she murmured, walking over to him. She stopped just outside of his reach. "I was wondering when you'd get around to looking me up."

"I'm surprised you're still sticking around." Michael muttered. "After raiding the mobile unit, I figured you'd be long gone."

"About that." She made to wipe her hands off on her jeans, then thought better of it. She simply crossed her arms over her chest as she spoke. "I wouldn't have done that if I didn't have any other choice. I know Kitt needs that stuff, but – Karr needed it too, and I don't have any other sources yet." She wouldn't apologize, but the simple explanation was enough to diffuse Michael's anger. As always, he was never sure if he was dealing with a villain or a victim when he was talking to Connor. He figured maybe a little of both.

"So why are you still here?" he asked.

"My bosses can't find me here." she informed him cheerfully. "Besides, it's good money, and I owe someone here a favor. Can't leave till I repay it."

Michael nodded. "Does Karr approve of this?"

"Yes." She gave him a hard look. "What are you doing here, Knight? There's no good for all mankind to be done here."

He didn't flinch at her sarcasm. "Double homicide gets my attention." he said dryly. "Do you know anything about it?"

She gave him a look, and he felt his gut clench. "No." She looked behind her at another semi that was coming in for maintenance. "Look, I need to get back to work."

"Connor." She met his eyes. Once again, he could see nothing in them. There was no emotion, no remorse, no recognition. He wondered, briefly, if Karr was the only one to ever see her soul in her eyes. "If you know anything about this, I could pay you for the information."

"No. That's not for sale." She turned and walked away. Michael sighed as he returned to the parking lot outside. Karr was on the opposite side of the lot from Kitt, and Michael steered clear of him. He slid inside the Trans-Am and sighed.

"So much for that lead." he muttered.

"Was Connor the one who stole from the mobile unit?" Kitt asked. Michael couldn't tell if Kitt was pissed off about that or not. More often than not, Michael got mad on his behalf. He nodded.

"Apparently, she's not with whoever she's been working for anymore." he said. "Karr needed the parts."

Kitt hesitated. "At least they went to a good cause."

"A good cause?" Michael asked disbelievingly.

"Karr protects Connor." Kitt explained. "Just like I protect you. We have to be in good shape if we want to do our jobs right, and I have the feeling Connor is in more constant danger than you are." Once again, he fell silent, but only for a moment. "It must aggravate Karr, knowing that Connor might die because his scanner malfunctioned."

"Just like it aggravates you." Michael commented, rubbing his hand across the dash. He sighed. "I get your point, Kitt. You sympathize. I just wish I knew more about Connor. I'm never sure if I should arrest her or cover for her."

Kitt chuckled as Michael fired up the engine. "You think she might have had something to do with the murders?" he asked.

"I know she did." Michael muttered. "I'm just not sure if she ordered it done or if she just happens to know the murderer and is protecting him out of some sort of loyalty."

"I didn't know Connor understood loyalty to anyone but Karr."

"That's what worries me." Michael thought for a moment. "Dig deeper into the pasts of those two men. There has to be something that ties them to her, however small."

"That would be easier if I knew anything about Connor's past." Kitt pointed out dryly. "We're going blind here."

"We usually are." Michael sighed. "Do the best you can, buddy. I'll take any lead I can get."

"Are we still going to follow up with Dominick?" Kitt asked.

Michael grinned humorlessly. "Most definitely."

/----/

Brian was mildly surprised to see Connor at the races that night. She never left her position leaning against the Ferrari's hood, but he supposed that was just protectiveness on her part. People had been known to drive off in the wrong car at the end. He walked over to her and joined her, but he didn't touch the car. That thing made him nervous for whatever reason. "Didn't expect to see you here." he said, yelling a little to be heard over the crowd.

Connor shrugged. "I got some extra cash in today." she explained. "Figured I could put it to good work in the betting pool. There are still idiots out there who bet against Dom."

Brian laughed. "There are always idiots who bet against Dom." he said. "That's what makes it fun. You gonna race tonight?"

"Only if Knight shows up." she said.

"You really think Knight can beat us in that piece of crap domestic he's driving?"

Connor flashed him a brilliant smile. "Yes. I'm the only one who could probably beat him. Our cars were made by the same people, after all."

"Is that how you met him?" Brian asked.

She shook her head. "I met him a lot later. We found out about each other's cars after the fact. For all the good it did us." She leaned forward, her eyes narrowed. "And there he is."

The Trans-Am was getting some rather rude attention. Connor chuckled. "Oh, I bet that pisses him off." she murmured, too quietly for Brian to hear. But Karr heard her. Her earpiece crackled.

"Kitt doesn't seem to be enjoying himself." he murmured.

"I don't doubt it. He'll enjoy himself even less once we get through with him." Connor turned her focus to the races. This was going to be fun.


	4. Chapter 4

**chapter four**

It didn't take Michael long to find Dominick. He was clearly the leader of the group of racers, leaning with total confidence against his Skyline. He was setting up the next race, instructing each person in the rules, if one wanted to call them that. Michael studied him for a moment. "Kitt – is he armed?"

There was a brief pause as Kitt ran the scan. _"No, Michael. But I would consider him dangerous anyway. He is very strong."_

Michael nodded to himself. He had expected nothing less, to be honest. "You got it, pal." He approached Dom and smiled at the group in what he hoped to be a friendly manner. "So, what's a guy got to do to get in this race?" he quipped.

One of the men racing took a look at Kitt and snorted in contempt. "For one thing, you can get a real car and not a domestic, and an old domestic at that." he muttered.

Kitt's car body was out of date, but it was still considered sleek and stylish, and more importantly Kitt loved it. He wanted nothing to do with an upgrade, and Michael had never seen the point in pushing the matter. Instead of shooting off his mouth like he so desperately wanted to, he forced a smile. "Well, that just means it'll be easy to win, won't it?"

Dom took a step forward and looked him over. Michael did his best not to look threatening. "If you want to race, you're gonna have to race Connor." he said with an easy smile. The others started murmuring to themselves, and Michael thought he heard something along the lines of 'psychopath on the road' pass between them. Dom motioned to someone behind him, and after a moment Connor appeared at his side. Michael felt all his muscles immediately tense.

"Been a while, hasn't it?" Connor said with a grin. "Almost a year now, right?"

"Right." Michael managed, just barely keeping a level composure. Was she going to blow his cover? "So, what brings you into the race world?"

"The same thing that drew you." Connor pointed out. "The money, and the thrill. So you want to go up against something fast?"

He nodded. "Yes."

"Then after they race, we'll have our fun." She started to walk away, but stopped herself. "Not here, though. The coastal road, on the cliffs. That'll be our place."

"When?" he asked.

"Tonight, at eleven. Don't be late." With that she turned and walked away, back to lean against Karr. The Ferrari's hood was warm, and she stretched out as much as she could, her feet braced against the front bumper. She rested her head against the windshield, closing her eyes for a moment. The hood was warm, and the night air was cool, and for the moment she was content. She could hear the sounds of the engines revving, and a slight smile touched her lips when she realized she could hear Brian's new baby along with Dom's Skyline at the starting point.

"I don't know how you can fall asleep in this mess." Karr murmured. "There is entirely too much noise."

"Where I grew up, we were right next to a train track." Connor said, her voice low and soft. "One would run through every three hours for fifteen minutes. I got used to sound."

"You didn't live there very long." Karr reminded her.

"Long enough." She opened her eyes, staring at what she could see of the stars overhead. "I don't know, Karr. Sometimes I think I should have just killed him regardless of the situation."

Karr didn't have to ask who she meant. "Perhaps. But only a monster would have left Kitt alone like that, and you are no monster."

"You tried to kill them both." Connor reminded him.

"I was – envious, perhaps – of what they shared." Karr said slowly. "I did not think it was possible for me to share that kind of connection with another, to care for someone on that level. I wanted it, and I hated them for having it."

She ran her fingers across the hood, and a brief tremor ran through her when she felt the engine rev in response. "You have it now."

"Yes. And now I understand why Kitt didn't want to lose it." There was a brief pause. "Watch. Brian's about to get beat by Dom again."

"Why does he even bother?" Connor raised her head to watch as, once again, Dom's Skyline overtook Brian's car in a burst of NOS. She grinned. "Guess that means I get to make a killing tonight. And it's even reasonably legal."

"Will the money go into our account?"

"Most of it. I'm out of food."

Karr sighed. "Connor, I wish you would tell me these things." he protested. On an impulse, he ran a medical scan on her. He had noticed her weight loss before, but he had contributed that to her hard work at the truck stop. Now he knew better. Working on engines that big would explain her lean muscles and strengthened body, but they didn't explain why her scans were showing her as underweight. "How long have you been out of food?" he demanded.

She shrugged. "A while, I guess." She cast a look at the windshield. "Don't worry, Karr. I'm used to this. Besides, you needed the parts more than I needed the food."

"I thought that was the whole point of raiding the FLAG semi." Karr pointed out blackly.

Connor shook her head. "No. You did require some regular car maintenance. I used the money to buy some parts. We don't have the Institute funding us anymore. The account was almost drained, so I used pocket money instead."

"You shouldn't have done that." Karr protested. "I can take care of myself."

"But you don't have to anymore." Connor said softly. "That's my job, isn't it?"

Karr knew better. He took pride in the relationship he shared with Connor, and while he would never admit it, it warmed him to think that she would sacrifice herself to protect him. Parts instead of food.

He wished he could tell her just how much she meant to him. She knew – he knew she knew. She knew that he would do the same for her, if the roles were reversed. He had risked exposing them once when he ordered food for her when she was too sick to leave the hotel room. She hadn't said anything about it, and neither had he, but he had recognized the smile she gave him when they were back on the road.

The one that said everything when words would never suffice.

"We have half an hour to head to the cliffs." he told her quietly. "The others are starting to scatter."

"I'll escort you down." Brian said, walking up to her. Connor looked him over, but he gave no indications that he knew she had been talking to her car. "Dom and Letty are guiding Knight out to the location. Why there, of all places?"

Connor grinned as she slid off the hood and into the driver's seat. "You'll understand when you see us drive." she told him. "Lead on, Brian. I'll be right behind you."


	5. Chapter 5

**chapter five**

Michael didn't really care for the coastal road. He didn't care for the way it wound a good five miles to the nearest intersection, which was where the race would end. Letty and Mia would be waiting down there to greet the winner. He _really_ didn't like the way they kept referring to the winner as the 'survivor'. It ranked right up there with the report Kitt was currently giving him about the path they would be taking.

"This isn't a good idea." Kitt was saying. "Look at the curves. I count two hairpin turns and enough lefts and rights to make me dizzy. Not to mention that this road has been condemned." He hesitated. "Is there a way we could get out of this?"

"No." Michael said tightly. "I'm not thrilled about this either, but we can't back down. Not if we want to get close enough to Dominick to find out if he's the one who murdered those people."

"Speaking of, I have information about them that you might find interesting." Kitt said, sounding just a bit more cheerful. "Shall we find a quiet spot where I can tell you about it?"

"Sure." Michael said. "After the race."

"Well, it was worth a shot."

Kitt was settled on the inside of the narrow road, while Karr was set up on the outside. Everyone was parked on the side of the road, and Michael had the nagging suspicion that there was a betting pool being set up. He wondered distantly what the odds against him were, and then put the thought from his mind. He really didn't want Kitt to calculate that.

Dom's voice rang out from the cliffs. "Three – two – one – GO!"

Karr peeled out and shot down the road, Connor barely touching the wheel. Kitt was hot on his trail, content to tailgate for the moment until they found a wider stretch of road to pass on. It was clear Connor and Karr had taken this route before; they rode the inside of the curves like a burr on a horse. Kitt and Michael weren't far behind, leaving only enough room to avoid hitting Karr when they braked slightly to make the turns.

The road widened, and Michael guided Kitt to the outside, running parallel to Karr and Connor. The young woman flashed him a wicked grin, but he didn't dare take his eyes off the road long enough to respond. Despite all the harrowing experiences he and Kitt had shared, this one definetly took the cake. They couldn't seem to gain enough ground on Karr to pass him, but at the same time he wasn't overcoming them. Kitt and Karr were too evenly matched, despite everything Karr had been through. The thought was slightly depressing.

"The first hairpin is coming up." Karr informed Connor. His driver nodded.

"Do they have enough room?" she asked.

"Yes, but barely." he assured her. "We can drag this out a while yet."

"Heck, I ain't letting them win." Connor said with a vicious smirk. "I'm going to make them sweat for everything they get." Karr chuckled as she pressed down on the accelerator, starting to gain ground on Michael and Kitt. They must have noticed, because they adjusted their speed accordingly. She laughed. "They must be thinking along the same lines."

Kitt and Michael, however, were worrying about different things. As the speedometer got closer to 100 mph, Kitt got just a little more nervous. "Michael, at these speeds we may not make it around that turn!" he said tightly. "We need to slow down."

"They know this road better than we do." Michael said through gritted teeth. "If they don't slow down, neither do we."

"They're also on the inside of the curve, not the outside." Kitt reminded him, and this time his voice was starting to shake. "Please Michael – we don't have time to argue!"

Without saying a word, Michael dropped back and fell in behind Karr. They made it through the first hairpin with squealing tires and smoke obscuring the road behind them. No one was following by now. They had left the spectators far behind. Michael pressed the gas pedal and resumed his position beside Connor. She flashed him a grin.

"Time to let loose." she murmured.

Karr almost laughed. "I think you would like this better if we had NOS." he commented.

She threw her head back and laughed. "Who needs NOS?" she shot back. "We smoked Dom without it, remember?" She floored it then, taking off and leaving Kitt and Michael behind in the dust. Michael wasn't too slow on the uptake though, and he was quick to engage Pursuit mode.

"At this speed, we're going to run up Karr's tailpipe." Kitt cautioned.

Michael grinned. "I was actually planning on going over." he admitted.

Kitt did the calculations. "At least you have room." he said.

Michael was gaining on them. Connor watched for a moment before shrugging. "Let's see if that chip does any good, shall we?"

"It would be my pleasure." Karr muttered. "Which system?"

"Turbo Boost, from the looks of it."

"Not a problem."

There was no warning. Michael pressed the button, and nothing happened. He was forced to fall back, alarm written all over his face. "Kitt, what happened?!"

"I don't know!" Kitt cried. "Karr activated something, and now it won't work! Turbo Boost has been temporarily deactivated."

Connor slapped her hands together while Karr guided them through one of the more dangerous turns. "Yes! That was perfect!" she cheered. "Pure genius. Whoever they have working for them is really good."

"No ideas." Karr teased. "She's thoroughly smitten with Knight, last I heard."

Connor laughed. "Wouldn't dream of it." She suddenly turned serious. "Last turn, then the straight shot to the finish line. You ready?"

Karr's engine growled. "Let's smoke them."

They went through the hairpin curve together, Kitt on the inside and Karr on the outside. They stayed door to door during the entire run through the curve and out the other side. Neither were worried about moderating their speed. Connor knew Dom had to have an idea about the Trans-Am; Michael was too focused on the race to care. He had to win, otherwise he lost any chance he had of finding evidence against Dom.

The straight shot was before them. Speedometers topped out at 350 mph. Connor was barely keeping the Ferrari in a straight line, but Karr let her have control anyway. Michael and Kitt were working together to maintain control of an otherwise out-of-control vehicle.

Dom had joined Letty and Mia at the end of the track. He squinted as he watched the two vehicles. "They're too fast." he murmured. "How did they get through that track that fast?"

"Luck." Letty said. "That and Connor has a knack of skirting danger."

"Seems like Knight does too." Mia commented dryly.

Connor slammed on the brakes and brought Karr to a skidding halt a hundred yards on the other side of the intersection. Michael brought Kitt to a smoother, yet still pretty distant, stop. Both took their time getting out. Michael had to lean against Kitt for a moment, taking a breath or two to calm his nerves. Connor on the other hand, was using Karr to stand up while she exploded into laughter.

Dom glared at her. "What were you thinking?" he demanded.

"Who won?" she asked, grinning ear to ear.

"It was a tie." Mia informed her. "He's pretty good to fight you that close."

Michael sighed and pushed away from the Trans-Am. "So now that I've passed the initiation rites from hell, am I in?" he asked.

Dom watched him for a moment. "You'll do." he agreed. Better to have the enemy close, so they knew what was going on.

Connor finally calmed down enough to speak. "We have got to do that again!"

"Sweetie, Connor," Mia said gently, "don't take this the wrong way – but you have a death wish."


	6. Chapter 6

**chapter six**

Michael took a bite of his sandwich before speaking to Kitt. He wanted to make sure Dom and the others were out before he spoke too much about the wrong thing. "So," he said after he swallowed, "what do you have on our two murder vics?"

Kitt seemed to hesitate for a moment. "They both worked for a place called the Institute." he said slowly. "I can't find much information on the place. As far as the records are concerned, they are a science-run organization that uses its knowledge to aid local cops. The only record of spent money is a large account dedicated to computers. The account vanished about six months ago, oddly enough." Another pause. "Michael – they have a record of a Connor who works for them, also vanished six months ago. There's no last name."

"Connor doesn't have a last name." Michael muttered to himself. He set aside his sandwich. "All right – obviously working for the law isn't all this Institute does. They wouldn't have tolerated Connor 'collecting' if they did. So what else do we know about this place?"

"I'm afraid that's it." Kitt apologized. "I know that the Institute sent the two men after their missing agent, and there's a few electronic memos that indicate plans to send another man after her – Dmitri. This seems to be a last resort, though."

Michael frowned. "Who's Dmitri?"

"No idea. All records of Dmitri indicate name and mission only, and they don't give much of the mission either. Whatever he does, it's top secret." Once again, Kitt hesitated. "Michael – I don't like this. The Institute is too professional. Whatever they want with Connor, I don't believe it's anything good. Those men wouldn't have died if this was simply a meeting."

"Unless their death has nothing to do with this Institute." Michael pointed out. "They could have been in the wrong place at the wrong time."

"I don't buy that and neither do you."

He grimaced. "Point." He glanced at his watch. He and Kitt had been up since dawn, and now nine o'clock was rolling around and it looked like the rest of the group was finally starting to show up. "We need to talk to Connor. Maybe she can tell us more about what's going on."

"Connor won't talk to you as long as she's protecting someone." Kitt cautioned.

Michael snorted in contempt. "Connor doesn't protect anyone but herself and Karr."

"That might have changed." the AI said quietly. "Last night, after you fell asleep, I saw Connor and Dom working on one of the cars together. Do you honestly think she'd be that close to him if she didn't trust him?"

For whatever reason, the idea of Connor trusting anyone just didn't sit right with Michael. He might have called it jealousy, if he had known her better. It could have been protectiveness. After all, Dom may be a murderer and Connor had been through hell, although what kind of hell he wasn't sure of yet.

He wanted Connor to trust him, but at the same time, he wanted her far away from him. She was dangerous, and she was in danger. All of his cop instincts were screaming two different things at him every time she was near, and he couldn't figure out what to do until he knew more about her background. In order to do that, she had to trust him. Which brought him right back to square one, although he didn't want to admit that.

"I don't know, Kitt." He rubbed the dash fondly. "I simply don't know. For now, I'm going to play racing criminal." He got out of the car as Dom and Brian walked inside. This was going to be hard.

/----/

Karr hated it when Connor was out of his sight. Admittedly, the meeting was being held just indoors of a busy hotel across the city from Dom's garage and right outside of the neighborhood where a few other of their contacts worked, but that did little to allay his fears. Karr didn't care for many people. In fact, he only cared for Connor. So he figured he was allowed to be extremely protective of what was his and his alone.

No matter what happened, Connor would always be his.

He used his scanners to keep track of the people inside. Marcus, a tall, gangly youth with blonde hair streaked with blue and more piercings than Karr had circuitry, stood leaning against the desk. Connor was beside the door, ready to run at a moment's notice. Karr appreciated that . It made him feel better knowing that she was prepared. Besides, Karr _hated _Marcus with a vengeance. He was a freelancer for the Institute, even though the Director didn't trust him with anything too serious. Marcus switched sides the way most females switched clothes.

He was just as likely to betray them as he was to help them. Unfortunately, Marcus had set up this meeting, and it wasn't wise to ignore Marcus. He might take it personally, and those who insulted him usually wound up dead.

"What do you want from me, Marcus?" Connor asked, her voice calm as she looked him in the eyes. She was keeping a respectable distance without being submissive to him, and he knew it. He also knew he couldn't kill her for it. Connor was the only person who probably scared Marcus, and Karr wasn't sure if that was because of the AI who protected her or her own martial arts skills.

Marcus tilted his head to the side. "The Director sent me. He said he wants you back – you and Karr. Said if you come willingly, he won't tear Karr apart molecule by molecule while you watch." he said flatly. Connor didn't respond, and a slow smile worked its way across his face. "You really do care for that scrap pile. Don't try to deny it. Anyone with a brain knows he's your weakness."

"My weakness?" Connor took a step forward, and Karr watched with some satisfaction as Marcus took a step back. "Without Karr, I'd be dead. How is that a weakness?"

"You care for him." Marcus repeated dully. "Emotion is weakness."

"Just like your _weakness_ for that little girl in Baton Rouge?" Connor pointed out dryly. It was Marcus's turn to flinch, anger burning in his eyes even though his face showed nothing. Connor nodded. "I thought so. I wonder – does the Director know you have a little sister? She's adorable, mind you. Obviously takes after your mother, what with the dark eyes."

"What's your point?" Marcus hissed.

"My point is this – we have our secrets from the Director." Connor said flatly. "I have mine, you have yours, and I'm willing to bet the Director would hate knowing you kept something so vital from him. So you keep my secret, and I'll keep yours."

Marcus was seething. "I'm starting to understand why Dmitri hates you."

"What does he have to do with anything?"

"He's coming here. I'm the last ditch effort to make you come back. After I fail, the Director is sending Dmitri after you."

Karr froze. Dmitri wouldn't just take Connor back to the Director, which was bad enough. Dmitri would kill her, slowly and painfully, because that was what he did. The thought chilled Karr's processor.

Connor shrugged. "We can handle him." With that she turned and walked out of the building, sliding back into Karr's driver seat with a grateful sigh. "I hate dealing with him."

"Does he know you were bluffing about the girl?" Karr asked with some amusement. Connor had a soft spot for children. She would never willingly place them in danger.

She grinned. "Probably not. But I got my point across, didn't I? Come on – we need to warn the others about Dmitri. He won't spare any of them."


	7. Chapter 7

**chapter seven**

Michael could feel Dom's eyes on him as the two men worked under the hood of Dom's Skyline – or rather, as Dom worked and Michael lent a hand. The air was charged, thick with tension. They were the only ones in the garage at the moment, and Michael was very well aware of it. Dom adjusted something, and Michael decided to break the silence. "So, where are the others?"

"Brian and Mia are out on a date." Dom said with a grunt. "Letty is taking my place at the register, so she won't be back until late." The oil filter finally came loose and he took it off. "As for Connor – who knows."

"She's not part of the team?" Michael asked.

"Not like the others." Dom screwed the new filter on and slid out from under the Skyline. "Connor does her own thing. Sooner or later she'll get tired of staying here and move on." He gave Michael a hard look. "She says you know her."

Michael shrugged. "Not well."

Dom gave him a look of polite disbelief. "You work a case together, you have the same taste in cars, and Connor even knows what agency you work for – an agency I've never heard of, and I thought I'd heard them all. So, want to try again?"

Well, heck. Connor had let it slip he was with FLAG. Michael took a breath and pressed a button on his comm. link. Kitt could receive transmissions, but not transmit himself. Maybe he would have the presence of mind to record everything Dom said. "I'm here investigating the murders, Dom. Surely you've heard of them."

"Yeah." Dom went back to the Skyline, refilling the oil. "Some sort of double homicide on the other side of the city. But check my record, cop – I don't kill."

"Connor does." Michael said flatly. It was a guess, but judging from the way Dom suddenly went stiff, it was an accurate one. "Did she hire you to kill them, or are you just protecting her from the law?"

The sudden sound of engines distracted him from his interrogation. The black Ferrari slid smoothly into the garage past Kitt and parked next to the Skyline. Connor got out, clearly agitated. "Where is everybody?" she demanded.

"Out. Why?" Dom asked, suddenly paying more attention to Connor than he had been to Michael. Something was going down. Michael knew it with every cop instinct in his body.

"Dmitri's coming." Connor explained. "You have to go to ground. I have no idea how long it'll take him to get here – for all I know, he's already here."

To Michael's complete and total shock, Karr spoke up. "He's not here yet, Connor." he assured his driver. "If he was, there would never have been a meeting with Marcus. Dmitri would have come after us himself."

To Kitt's shock, Dom wasn't even fazed by the idea of a talking car. "Karr's got a point." he reminded Connor. "From what you've told me, he wouldn't send an underling to do his work."

"Marcus isn't an underling." Connor muttered. "But Karr does have a point." She ran her fingers across the hood, trying to reassure herself. Dmitri had hurt her more than once in the past. But that was all it was – the past. Connor could take care of herself now, and she wouldn't be at his mercy any longer. Neither she nor Karr would allow it.

Dom nodded and tossed her a set of keys. "Go to the warehouse. Brian and Mia are on the other side of town at that Mexican place they like visiting. I'll get Letty and meet you there." He dropped the hood of the Skyline and got inside, quickly peeling out as he shot out of the garage. Connor turned to Michael.

"Knight, you need to get out of here too." she told him blandly. "Dmitri's as much a danger to you as he is to me, especially if he finds out about Kitt."

"I can take care of myself." Kitt said indignantly from Michael's comm. link. Michael shot the thing a dirty look.

"How did you override –"

"I didn't. I thought you changed the setting."

"I fixed it." Karr said. "That new piece of circuitry Barstow was supposed to give Kitt I now have. It's primary function is the disruption of other computer programs. I imagine Barstow didn't tell you about it because it takes a sophisticated AI program to run the chip."

"Now you're bragging." Connor teased lightly. Karr made a rude sound, and she simply laughed in response. She slid into the driver's seat, giving Michael a look just before she left. "I'm serious, Knight. Dmitri wants to kill me, but he'll kill you too if he thinks it'll get him what he wants. If I'm going to have the whole of FLAG on my butt, I'd rather it be because I killed you myself." With that Karr backed out of the garage and disappeared down the road.

Michael stood there for a moment, mulling over his options. On one hand, he should probably go ahead and do what Connor wanted him to. He could leave town for a few days and resume the search for the killer after this Dmitri left town. Michael knew Connor didn't kill those people – he knew Dom did. It was just a matter of finding evidence that didn't magically disappear, and he suspected that once Connor was out of the way, that wouldn't be a problem.

On the other hand, Connor was a victim. That much Michael was certain of. No matter what else she had done, she was a victim, and it sounded like Dmitri was one of the ones who had hurt her. Could he honestly leave her at the mercy of her tormentor?

"Michael?"

Kitt, leaving the decision completely up to him. Kitt wouldn't want to leave Connor alone in a time like this. After all, Connor had spared Michael's life. Kitt figured they owed her, which Michael had reluctantly agreed to. The last thing he wanted was to be in Connor's debt.

He left the garage and slid into the driver's seat. "Where to, Michael?" Kitt asked.

Michael fired up the engine. "The warehouse." he said grimly. "Pull up everything you can on Dom Torrento's assets. I want to know where I'm going."

"Right away." Kitt assured him, and Michael wondered if that was a pleased note in his partner's voice. It didn't matter though. This was right, Michael was sure of it.

Now if only Devon would see it the same way.

/---/

An: Next up – Dmitri catches up with Connor and Karr, and it's Michael and Kitt to the rescue! Review, please!


	8. Chapter 8

**chapter eight**

"Remind me again why we're heading for the cliffs?" Karr demanded, a slight note of panic in his voice as they tore towards the coastal road. Connor grunted as she struggled to keep the car in control. Normally Karr drove when they had to go at these kinds of speeds, but for whatever reason neither of them had thought of it. Luckily their path was straight and long and currently deserted. Unluckily, they were also being pursued by a silver Pontiac Solstice owned by none other than the Institute's Dmitri.

He was also keeping up with them rather nicely.

"He shouldn't be going this fast." Connor murmured. "Why is he going this fast?"

"Dmitri's burning NOS." Karr pointed out dryly. "He's going to go faster than the normal car."

"NOS doesn't make you go that fast." Connor bit out. "We've proved that against Dom how many times? He has to have something in there."

"He does." Karr said tightly. "His Solstice is currently being run by a computer. Something like an AI."

Connor barked out a laugh. "You mean now there's more than two of you?" Dmitri slammed into their bumper, sending Karr fish-tailing across the highway. "Crap! Can you disable that thing?"

"Trying." Karr said, sounding strained.

"Don't tell me it's that complicated."

"Only in its simplicity." Dmitri bumped them again, and this time Karr unleashed his own supply of curses. This worried Connor. Karr did not curse. If something pissed him off, he did something about it. The only person Connor had ever heard him curse at was the Director, and that was only because the man was simply too well protected to just kill at the time. "The program isn't advanced enough to have individualized components like myself and Kitt, so I'm having problems finding the shutoff."

"Why not just blow it up?"

"Then we'll get caught in it."

"That's why we're heading to the cliffs."

"What?!"

The plan had gone horribly wrong about two minutes after leaving Dom's garage. They were going to warn Brian and Mia, give them the keys to the warehouse, and follow them there. That was before a certain Solstice cut them off and then proceeded to give chase. As far as Connor was aware, Brian and Mia didn't even know anything was wrong. Connor spun the wheel around and took off to the left, throwing dust in the air as they abandoned the pavement in favor of back roads. Rain started to spatter on Karr's windshield, and he automatically turned on the wipers.

"This is dangerous." Karr warned. "The tide's coming in. If you try for the beach, we're going to wind up driving through the surf."

"Hopefully that'll short out whatever it is that Dmitri has in his car." Connor grunted. The rain was coming harder now, and she muttered something foul under her breath. "Great. The tide'll come in that much faster now."

"Can we get back on the pavement now?"

"No."

Karr was probably the only one who knew Connor hated water. She didn't even like getting in a bathtub, much less getting in a lake or the ocean. He was also the only one who knew that her fear stemmed from Dmitri trying to drown her in the bathtub at the Institute not too long after Karr rejected him. He knew her hands were currently gripping the wheel so hard her knuckles were white. Gently, he took control back from her.

"Let me." he said softly, and Connor willingly let go of the wheel. She was shaking slightly as they headed down the sharp cliff side and onto the beach. "There's a cave about three miles down the beach. I'll take you there. You'll be out of the tidewaters, and I'll get rid of Dmitri and come back for you."

"This is so stupid." Connor murmured. "You'd think I'd be over this by now."

"Not stupid." Karr assured her. "But you won't have to fear the water much longer." He was going to kill Dmitri. For all the hell he had put Connor through, for all the scars he'd left on her, he would kill that man if it was the last thing he did.

Dmitri, and the Director. The list would have been longer, but Connor wasn't above revenge.

They reached the caves in record time, and Karr skid to a halt with the driver's door facing the cave. He was now pointed directly at Dmitri's car, which had rolled to a stop. Karr scanned the inferior vehicle with no small amount of satisfaction. "You were right. The salt water shorted out the AI."

"Good." Connor pressed her hand against Karr's dash, slowly moving her fingers across the dark material. Karr shivered, not bothering to try and hide his reaction. Now wasn't the time for appearances. "Be careful, Karr. I can't lose you."

"I know." Karr whispered. "Now go, before the water gets too high." Connor nodded and quickly got out, racing the ankle-deep water for the safety of the cave. She would be safe in there, but she would have to wait another six hours for the tide to go down enough for Karr to get to her again. Karr hadn't mentioned that. She never would have left the safety of the cabin if he brought that to her attention.

He watched her go, only turning his full attention to Dmitri when Connor was safely out of range. His speakers crackled as Dmitri activated the primitive comm. link system they had with Institute. "You can't save her forever you know." Dmitri said smugly. "You know that, sooner or later, the Director will catch up with her. And he'll kill her."

"Not before I kill him." Karr promised darkly.

Dmitri didn't even hesitated. "You'll have to go through me first."

"With pleasure." Karr revved the engine and lurched forward, racing towards the prone vehicle. Dmitri would die. His promise to Connor.

/---/

Michael and Kitt made it to the cliffs just in time for the storm to break overhead. They could hear racing engines, and Michael clearly recognized Karr's turbine system. Similar to Kitt's, but not quite the same. He turned to Kitt. "What's going on down there?"

"I can't tell." They had to shout to be heard over the pouring rain. "There's too much interference, but - Michael, by the cliff!"

Michael spun around, expecting to see an attacker coming at him. He could barely make out the individual standing next to the ledge, looking down. There was something in the woman's hand, and with a sickening feeling Michael realized what she was holding.

A split second later, there was a massive explosion, and half the cliff caved in.

"Kitt – where's Connor?" he demanded, racing as well as he could over slick grass towards the woman.

Kitt's answer was grim. "In the caves, Michael. Under the rocks."


	9. Chapter 9

**chapter nine**

"Connor!"

Karr was only faintly aware of Kitt and Knight on the top of the cliffs. He knew when the woman responsible for the explosion fled. He should have known Dmitri would not come alone – his psychotic little girlfriend was with him. Dmitri himself was gone already, probably heading somewhere to pick up the pyromaniac and drive her safely away. At the moment, he didn't care. There would be plenty of time later to find Dmitri and kill him. Right now he had more important things to worry about.

Like Connor.

"_Connor!"_

He couldn't raise her on the earwig. There was a number of possibilities for that, none of them appealing. The earwig could have slipped from her ear, or there was simply too much debris for his signal to get through. Or, and this was the worst possible scenario, the water could have already risen to the point where the salt shorted out the earwig.

If that was the case, then Connor was already dead.

Michael leaned over the edge of the cliff, making a mental note of the woman who ran. "Kitt, is there a safe way down there?" he demanded, trying to ignore the pounding rain. Kitt hesitated.

"We can use the grappling hook to lower you down." he said doubtfully. "It's not exactly safe, but the ground isn't wet enough for me to lose traction." Michael nodded.

"Then let's do it. There's no way Connor survived that without damage." It only took a few minutes for them to get everything set up, and then Kitt was slowly lowering Michael down to the coastline below them. Kitt was worried about Connor. He was intrigued by the girl, and he definitely didn't want her to die. But he was more concerned about Michael. If something went wrong, Kitt had no real way of getting down there and protecting him. He'd be as helpless as Karr was right now.

Michael felt soft dirt beneath his feet, and he let go of the hook. Quickly, he raced over to the rocks. Karr was rocking back and forth on his wheels, and Michael could clearly hear the distress in his voice as he continued to call out Connor's name. Michael didn't bother talking to him. He simply scrambled up over the rocks, searching for a path in. He found it – small and sharp, but there nonetheless.

"_Michael, help is on the way."_ Kitt informed him. _"Also, Dom and Brian are coming too. Apparently they heard the news on the CB radio."_

"Not a problem." Michael grunted. "So long as they don't decide to kill anyone while I'm down here." Kitt chuckled dryly. Michael found a gap big enough for him to crouch in, and he turned on his flashlight. The sight was not assuring.

Connor was half-buried under the rocks, her legs completely pinned. Blood oozed from an open wound on her forehead, and he suspected most of it was hidden in her hair due to the sheer amount of blood. The water around her was stained a light crimson, and he knew there had to be more damage under the rocks. "Kitt, can you get a medical scan on her?"

There was a moment's pause. _"I'm surprised she's still alive."_ Kitt murmured. _"She has a concussion, three broken ribs, and one broken leg, not to mention severe internal bleeding. I'm relaying the information to the rescue crew now."_

Michael grimaced. Not good, not good at all. "Connor. Come on, girl, you gotta wake up." He gently nudged her shoulder, and she jerked awake with a soft cry of pain. He pressed his hand against her shoulder, holding her steady. "Listen to me: You're hurt pretty badly. You need to stay awake, okay? If you go to sleep, you may not wake up."

To his surprise, Connor chuckled weakly. "I'm not dying, Knight."

"You don't know that."

"Been there, done that." Connor murmured, her voice fading. "Dying doesn't hurt this bad." Michael shook her lightly, and once again she jerked awake. "What part of not dying don't you get?"

"What part of staying awake don't you get?" Michael shot back. "Besides, what do you mean you've done this? Most people don't die more than once."

"I've died twice so far." Connor murmured. "It would have been three if I'd had my way about it." She was at least making an effort now, even if Michael was having a hard time wrapping his mind around what she was saying. Was the concussion screwing up her mind?

"If you don't mind my asking, how?" he whispered.

Connor gave him a look. "You know some of my past." she pointed out. "Take a wild guess."

/----/

Karr was aware when Dom slapped his hand against the door. He rolled the window down just enough to let Dom hear him. He had no desire to get wet just yet. "What's going on?" Dom demanded. "Someone said a girl was trapped down there."

"Dmitri collapsed the caves." Karr said, his voice blank with shock. "Connor was still inside. I told her to wait for me there."

Brian cursed as Dom relayed this information to him. "Is Knight in there with her?"

"I think so."

"All right then. She's in good enough hands." He turned to Dom and said something Karr didn't catch. "Which way did Dmitri go?"

"South, towards the garage."

"All right." Dom said briskly. "Tell Connor we'll be back with a present, okay? Dmitri's head on an oil pan." Karr couldn't help but chuckle at that. Dom smiled at him before both men raced away. Karr could hear the sounds of the Skyline's engine revving even over the rain. Suddenly Kitt hailed him on his radio, and he allowed the other AI to patch through.

"What do you want, Kitt?"

"_I thought you'd might want to listen in."_ Kitt said mildly. _"If we can keep Connor awake and talking, then she has a chance of surviving this. Let's just say she's being a bit sharp with Michael."_

Karr sighed. "Let me talk to her."

"_Thank you."_

Now that was backwards, Karr thought darkly. Kitt was thanking him. Something was wrong.

/----/

Michael shook his head. "I probably don't want to know." he muttered. "No – I definitely don't want to know."

"Then don't ask questions." Connor snapped. "Leave me alone." She figured that would get him to shut up. The one person she wanted to talk to she couldn't reach. Something was wrong with the earwig. Karr wasn't talking to her, and she knew that after an explosion like that, it wasn't for lack of trying.

Michael's comm. link beeped, and after a moment of quiet conversation with Kitt he took it off and handed it to Connor. She wrapped her fingers around it, her hand shaking from lack of blood. "What's this?"

"Use it to talk to Karr." He watched as her eyes widened slightly before she brought it up to her lips.

"Karr?" Her voice was shaking. "Karr, are you all right?"

"_I should be asking you that."_ Karr responded, and Michael was shocked to hear the tremor in the AI's voice. _"Despite everything, surviving a rock slide is a remarkable feat."_

"No more remarkable than surviving everything else Dmitri's thrown at me over the years." Connor said dryly. Her voice grew quiet as she spoke. "Karr – I'm scared."

Karr's voice took on a whole new quality, one Michael couldn't quite place because he had never heard it from Karr before, or even Kitt. Then again, Michael had never confessed to being scared around Kitt. "You don't have to be." Karr said quietly. "I'm here. You know that."

Connor closed her eyes, tears leaking down her cheeks. "Hurt."

"I know. You have to hold on, Connor. If you die on me, there will be nothing left."

And suddenly Michael realized what was going on. It was both sweet and more than a little sickening. After all – and this was ignoring the fact that Karr was a computer – to form that kind of relationship with a being like Karr was downright dangerous. Those kinds of affections could turn deadly.

Michael sighed and shook his head. He'd deal with that later – if there was a later.

The water level was rising.


	10. Chapter 10

**chapter ten**

"Why do you hate him?"

The question was so completely unexpected that Michael was at a loss for words. He could hear the rescue men slowly picking away at the rocks. Another thirty minutes, Kitt estimated, and they would be in. However, if Michael couldn't figure out a way of keeping Connor's head above water, then that wouldn't matter anymore. Connor would drown long before the rescue squad got to her. "What?"

"Karr." Connor met his eyes, her voice calm and even. She was so very pale, and Michael noticed she was trembling. They were the only signs that she was injured. "Why do you hate him?"

"He's tried to kill us." Michael pointed out. "Repeatedly, I might add."

"From what I understand, you went after him first." Connor replied conversationally. "Ran him off a cliff the first time."

"Did you hear what happened the second?" Michael asked bitterly. That was not a memory he wanted to relive.

"Yes." Connor closed her eyes. "Your people really should have cleaned up after themselves. Miles left Karr's CPU to rot. That's how the Institute got a hold of him." She cringed as another wave of pain lanced through her, but she didn't say anything. Karr was listening in, she was sure, and the last thing she wanted was to give him any more reason to worry. Things were going to be bad enough as it was. "I never did understand what the big deal was. I mean, what did Karr do that FLAG felt they had to scrap him and start again?"

"Does it make any difference?" Michael asked.

"Not really. I'm glad you did."

"Why?"

Connor smiled. "We're together now. Bad things don't seem so bad when you've got someone who you know has your back."

Michael had to agree with that one. How many times had he been in dangerous situations and never blinked and eye because of Kitt? "Karr killed someone not two weeks after he was activated." he told her. "That's what he did, from what I understood. I had the same question too, after he was reactivated the first time. I looked it up."

"I wonder what happened then." Connor murmured.

"What do you mean?"

Connor didn't respond, and Michael's attention snapped to her. Her eyes were closed, her breathing short and shallow. Michael cursed. "She's passed out, Kitt."

"_I'm not surprised."_ Kitt said quietly. _"Her medical scans are not good."_

"_She will live though."_ Karr, so very shaken. His statement sounded more like a plea, though who he was pleading with was beyond Michael. Neither he nor Kitt responded to that. Michael eased himself behind Connor and lifted her head gently. Her hair was already soaked with salt water. The motion woke her, and this time she couldn't bite back a groan. Michael thought he'd heard Karr sigh in relief.

If she was in pain, then she was alive.

"Keep talking to me, Connor." Michael said softly. "We don't want to lose you."

"We?" She raised her head just enough to look at him, confusion plain in her eyes. Michael laughed.

"What? You think Karr is the only one who thinks you're worth something?" he demanded. "Why do you think I'm down here with you now?"

"Because you're a goody-two-shoes." Connor muttered.

"_She has you there, Michael."_ Kitt teased.

Michael groaned. "Oh, shut up." he shot back with a grin. "Still, you gotta keep talking. If not for the poor goody-two-shoes getting his butt wet for you, then at least for Karr." His voice had gotten quiet, and suddenly Connor realized that he knew. He knew, and he obviously didn't approve. She considered for a moment, and sighed.

"Listen – you don't know what I went through, what _both of us_ went through." she said quietly. "The man and woman who raised me beat the crap out of me and left me for dead. The Director of the Institute was supposed to be my saving grace, and he was just as bad as them. I learned quickly that no human could be trusted. Karr had already been destroyed twice by the very people who created him, and he had no reason to believe that the Director wouldn't do the same to him when they were done. After all, Dmitri isn't a nice person.

"I don't trust humans, but Karr isn't human. Karr doesn't trust people in power, but I was just a child when we met. I had no way to hurt him, and he intrigued me. Do you understand how important we became to each other?"

Slowly, so very slowly, Michael nodded. Put like that, he could see very easily how important they would become. "So how did you two meet?" he asked, keeping his voice conversational. "I gather you weren't the Director's first choice."

"I wasn't." Connor chuckled weakly. "Dmitri was. Once Karr met me, he wouldn't take Dmitri on. Pissed him off, too. He's been looking for a good chance to kill me all these years." Her voice was getting faint again, and this time Michael knew he wasn't going to talk her back from the brink. Connor was dying. She knew it too. "Tell Karr I'm sorry. Tell him – I love him."

She passed out right as the last of the rocks fell away from them and the rescue team came in. Michael helped them get her on a stretcher, bracing her neck and trying with all their might to find a way to save her. He was stunned by her confession, but what shocked him was what he heard over his comm. link.

Karr's voice, soft and somehow empty.

"_I already know, little wolf."_

/---/

An: Holy crap, that chapter was hard! Anywho, there will be two, maybe three chapters left. The next one you get to find out what happened to Dom and Brian after they took off. Review, please!


	11. Chapter 11

**chapter eleven**

Dom had the pedal pressed all the way to the floor as his Skyline charged after Dmitri's retreating vehicle. Brian held on tight to the seat, his eyes flickering between the wild chase in front of him and his friend's stone cold face beside him. After five minutes, he couldn't take any more of the silence. "All right, who is this guy, and why are we trying to kill him?"

"Who said anything about killing him?" Dom grunted, spinning the wheel in a sharp left-hand turn. He cursed under his breath as he barely kept the Skyline under control, but Dmitri was going to have to do a lot better than that if he wanted to keep Dom off his tail. "I was just going to drag him back down to the garage and hold him there until Connor decides what to do with him."

"Yeah right. I heard what you said to Connor's informant."

Dom frowned. "What?"

"The guy in her car. You were talking to him earlier." Brian said impatiently. "So who is this idiot to Connor?"

For the moment, Dom chose to ignore the informant bit. After all, it was as good a way as any of explaining why he was talking to a car, and he wasn't going to reveal that particular secret just yet. He had known Connor much longer than he had known Brian, and while he trusted Brian with his life, he was not going to betray Connor just because he asked.

Well, maybe he would, but not with that information. Karr was her secret to keep.

"Dmitri worked with the organization Connor used to work with." Dom explained briefly. "He hates Connor's guts and has tried to kill her numerous times. He probably succeeded tonight."

Brian froze. "He caused the rockslide."

"Yes."

"But Connor can't die because of something like that." Brian protested. "She's too tough – right?"

Dom didn't tell him that once two drunkards had beaten her to death. He didn't even know about that second time, that once she had taken her own life. Once, she wasn't as tough as she was now. "There's only so much one person can take." he said quietly. "I don't know how determined Connor is to live. That'll determine if she survives this or not."

It wouldn't be long, Dom knew. Dmitri was taking every hairpin turn he could on the dangerous coastal road, the same one Michael and Connor had been racing down earlier that week. Distantly, he wondered if Knight's car was like Karr, if it could talk and do all the things the Ferrari could do. He shoved the thoughts aside and focused on controlling the car. The road was dangerous enough under normal circumstances. Adding in the pouring rain, it was downright suicidal to drive like this.

Maybe that was the idea.

"Dom!" Brian shouted a warning a split second after Dom slammed on the brakes. The Skyline came to a fishtailing halt, but Dmitri's car wasn't nearly as lucky. It missed the hairpin and slid off the side of the road, plummeting to the ocean below. Dom and Brian got out and stood at the edge of the road, staring down into the waters churning around the rocks.

Brian sighed. "That was anticlimactic." he muttered. Dom laughed.

"Hardly. It's not far enough to kill him." He pointed to the right. "There's a track that the cops use to get down there when people slide off. Let's head down and check out the damage." Brian sighed, but he followed Dom to the slick dirt track. Someone had put gravel across it once upon a time, but repeated heavy rains quickly washed all that down to the water, so there was nothing to keep traction. It was slow going.

"I say we leave him down there and let him drown." Brian muttered. "I mean, the cops are never gonna know we were out here."

"I know." Dom said. "If he's dead, we'll leave him."

"All right, 'cause I ain't hauling some dead guy up this track. This sucks bad enough as it is."

Dom chuckled at his friend's muttering. This was part of the reason why he liked Brian so much. The man may gripe and complain about everything at times, but he never backed down. He was loyal. Unknowingly, his mind went back to the first time he'd met Connor.

He had done a heist in her city, as he thought of it. The Director wanted a slice of his money, so he sent Dmitri and Connor to get it. Connor had let him go after feeding Dmitri some line about the cops having already found the money. Later, she had warned him to leave the city, since the Institute would be after him for crossing them. He had listened, and tried to leave while he still could. He almost hadn't made it.

They got down to the end of the track and found the compact car on its top. Dom circled around, the water rising up to his knees, just as Dmitri popped open the driver's side door. He slid out – apparently he had been wearing a seat belt, or else he was exceptionally lucky – and Dom hauled him up to his feet by his hair. Dmitri groaned in pain. Dom ignored him and focused on Brian. "See if there's anyone else in there."

Brian knelt down and checked. He grimaced. "A woman." he said. "She's dead."

Dom nodded. "Help me get this guy up to the car." he said, the rain starting to drizzle off. "We'll take him to the safehouse and leave him there. Let Connor find him later."

At that moment, Dmitri found his second wind. He flipped Dom over his shoulder and pinned the man into the water, attempting to drown him. Dom clawed at his arms, struggling to get a decent enough grip on his assailant to flip them back over.

Moving through knee-high water isn't easy. Brian couldn't say his approach was stealthy or quick, but Dmitri didn't seem concerned about him until Brian was on top of him. Brian didn't waste time with a chokehold or anything else Dmitri might squirm his way out of. He simply decked the man in the back of the head.

While it didn't knock him out, it did make him let go of Dom and spin around, turning his focus on Brian. Dom shot out of the water and immediately attacked Dmitri from behind. Brian began the assault from the front.

It wasn't what one would call a fair fight, but Dmitri hadn't been trained for having two very determined, very protective men decide to gang up on him. Between Dom and Brian, they managed to beat Dmitri into unconsciousness. Brian sighed, breathing hard. Dom braced himself against the car and shot Brian a dirty look.

"Was that climatic enough for you?" he growled good-naturedly.

Brian laughed.

/---/

AN: Wow, this is almost done! One more chapter should do it, and that will be the end of this story. Review, and you'll find out what happened to Connor and what will happen to Dmitri.


	12. Chapter 12

**chapter twelve**

Connor woke slowly, keenly aware of the pain that had slowly settled into her body. The last thing she remembered was passing out in the caves right after she gave Knight her message. She barely remembered Karr's response; how he used the name he once called her before he named her Connor. That meant Karr probably thought she was dead.

The thought entered her mind sluggishly, but faster than before. That was a good sign. She remembered previous wakings, none lasting longer than a few hours to a day. Every time she did, a nurse would come in and put her back to sleep. She wasn't really sure why at first, but now she was beginning to understand. She must have woken up screaming from the pain. It felt like everything from her shoulders to her hips had been torn from her body.

"You died on the operating table, you know."

She groaned and opened her eyes. Sure enough, Knight was standing beside her hospital bed. His boss – Miles, she thought he was called – was standing just behind him. Connor chose to stare at the ceiling. "That makes the total three now." she murmured, shocked at how weak her voice sounded. She didn't feel weak. "Where am I?"

"North County Hospital." Miles said in a gentle tone. His accent was definitely British, and Connor almost laughed as she remembered what Knight had said about him in the beginning. She was having a hard time equating this kind man before her with the monster Karr had described. She supposed she'd see his true nature soon enough. Miles smiled at her before continuing, "The doctors have been taking very good care of you. They say in another two weeks you should be good to go home."

Connor hesitated, not sure she wanted to know. "How long have I been here?"

"Two months."

She gasped in shock and attempted to sit up, trying to ignore the pain that tore through her. Knight grabbed her shoulders and pinned her to the bed. "Connor, calm down." he said calmly. "You're safe here. If you weren't, you'd be dead already."

"He thinks I'm dead!" She hated how her voice shook.

Knight turned to Miles. "Devon, can you give us a few minutes?" Miles nodded and left the room. Free to speak, Knight turned his attention back to Connor. "Karr knows you're alive. He's been parked outside your room for the past two months. Connor, you broke every rib in your body. The docs had to hold them together with wires. While most of the damage has healed on its own, they still anticipate you being in pain for another few months at least. That's why they've kept you out all this time." He paused a moment to let her digest that information. "Is there anyone who can take care of you while you recover?"

"Karr." she said immediately.

Knight rolled his eyes. "I kinda meant someone who walks on two legs and has a pulse." he shot back with a slight grin. "I'm sure Karr is great, but you're going to need more than just him."

Connor looked up at him, her eyes dark with a thousand emotions he could never hope to understand. "Karr is all I need." she said quietly. "He's all I'll ever need."

"I'm sure he's flattered." Knight muttered, but he sighed in defeat. "Oh, by the way – I got this from your personal affects." He handed her a small semi-round object. "The docs thought it was a hearing aid. I figured you'd be wanting this. Sometimes talking to Kitt is the only thing that keeps me from killing people in here."

Connor chuckled, wincing a little as she did so. "I'm sure." She looked up at him, something akin to respect in her eyes. "Thank you, Michael."

It was the first time she'd called him by name. "No problem."

/----/

The two weeks passed quickly, but not quickly enough in Karr's opinion. Being too close to members of FLAG was unnerving to say the least, but as long as he was able to listen in on Connor and know she was safe, he could stay here a while longer. Now he was parked in the patient drop-off section of the hospital, waiting impatiently while Connor slowly sat down in the driver's seat. Miles was fussing over her needlessly.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have Michael drive you?" he asked.

Connor rolled her eyes, but only Karr saw it. "I'll be fine, Mr. Miles." she said calmly. "I've suffered through worse than this and lived to tell the tale. My partner will be waiting for me at the safehouse. If I think I can't drive anymore, I'll call him." Miles nodded, looking relieved. He bade her farewell and went to join Barstow beside Kitt. Michael walked up and stood just beside the vehicle, unwilling to rest on it like he would Kitt. Karr smirked inwardly.

"Hey, Connor – if you find yourself needing some help, just call me up and use your surname." he said, passing her a sticky note with a number written on it. "I'll know it's an emergency. I'll come."

Connor couldn't help but smile. "What surname? I don't have one."

"You do now." He flashed her a smirk and walked away. Connor shut the door and looked down at her hospital ID bracelet. She almost groaned. Of course, she would need a surname for the hospital records, but couldn't Michael have been just a bit more creative?

_Connor Knight._

"It has a certain ring to it." Karr said as he drove them out of the hospital. Connor made a face. Karr laughed. "All right, not a certain ring to it. Are you ever going to use it?"

"Not unless drastic measures have to be taken." Connor muttered. She looked out the window. "Where are we going?"

"To the safehouse." Karr responded. "Dom said he had a gift for you."

"Welcoming me home with a free oil change?"

"That does sound like something he would do."

They drove the rest of the way in silence, Connor stroking her hand across the dash as Karr seemed to lean into her touch. There was so much that could have been said, but wasn't. They already knew everything that was most important. It came out in the way she touched him, in the way he allowed it. It showed in the way he flinched every time she hissed in pain and in the way she revealed her weakness to him. She trusted him. He cared for her.

That was all that mattered.

Karr parked in the safehouse in the darker side of town and hesitated. "Connor."

"I see him." She reached across the car as best as she could and opened the glove box, removing her favored weapon before straightening back up. "The best gift a girl could hope for."

"It does explain why Dom and Brian aren't here." Karr commented. "I wouldn't touch anything. The place has been cleaned. Even I won't leave any tread marks."

"Looks like the gang finally started watching cop shows." Connor chuckled. She got out, noticing how there wasn't even enough dust on the ground to leave footprints. It was just the way she would have done it had this been a planned hit. She walked slowly over to Dmitri, who was chained to the water pipes against the wall. He looked up at her, bound and gagged, unable to defend himself. He glared as she raised her snub-nosed revolver and aimed at his head.

Part of her wanted to end this in a fair fight. The rest of her knew better. It was time this ended, and it would start with Dmitri.

"Never again." she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "This is for Karr."

She pulled the trigger, and blew him away.

**The End**

An: Wow. That was an odd note to end this on. But never fear – this is not the end of Connor and Karr. I have two more story ideas planned out for this and another prequel idea now that I have the whole thing established. So drop me a review, keep on the lookout for **Destruct Sequence**, and until next time, I am yours truly,

Shadowblade-tara


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